Voluntary departure orders from immigration judges up by 600%+

Between January 2025 and March 2026, immigration judges issued more than 80,000 voluntary departure orders, according to the Vera Institute of Justice. That’s a more than 600% increase from the 11,400 issued during the final 15 months of the Biden administration.

Acting Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons issued a memo in July 2025 ending bond hearings for immigrants who entered illegally, contributing to conditions where more than 70% of those granted voluntary departure were in immigration detention when they requested to leave.

Ukrainian artist Roman Husar, held at the Eden Detention Center in Texas, abandoned his asylum claim after months in detention, told a newspaper, “Nobody gets asylum here in Texas. Nobody.” Attorneys argue the surge reflects coercion rather than voluntary choice.

Republican-appointed judges encourage detained immigrants to leave at higher rates than Democratic-appointed judges, with more than 93% of initially detained cases assigned to newly appointed judges resulting in orders requiring departure from the United States.

Vera Institute researcher Jacquelyn Pavilon warned that voluntary departures are rising alongside removal orders, not instead of them, “and so the piece of the pie that’s shrinking is the number of people who are allowed to remain in the United States.

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